Aw, man, I have so been here. Don't invite her to move in yet, Ally! Make sure you really know each other as full people and get past the infatuation stage first! Make her feel at all like you're taking away her independence, and the backlash later will be epic. Living in your dom maybe-girlfriend's house, while you're both still struggling with shifts in your perception of your sexuality, knowing it's because she makes so much more money than you...feeling like she's decided what's best for you before you've even known each other a year (or even in-person, a full month!)...

If this goes well, I will be very surprised. And sort of disappointed, because they've got a lot to work out still and a lot more being honest with themselves and each other to do. (And oh, hey, I'm not projecting *at all.*)

Heh, well, I've been there and done that! Welllll, minus the either of us having scads of cash part.

Just finished Chap. 4 a few minutes ago. Your writing and your insight have me in awe (oh, and your art is damned amazing, too). I've been in those dynamics (up to and including the awkward curious friend that each half thinks is on the other's 'side' part), and you're nailing everyone, all the miscommunication and the boundary and role confusion and bleeds. Seriously, geeks and relationships. We can make a good thing better, but man can we make a bad thing worse, too.

Since you're apparently cleaning things up for publications, can I make a suggestion on this page? Sorry, I don't mean to be that bitch who's always complaining.That one line "I'm... gay."It really doesn't feel like it fits.1. Because working that out about yourself is usually a bigger deal than saying it out loud and moving on. It's just sort of glossed over. I know this conversation is a lot longer and she's obviously stressed, but a majority of that is about the prospect of falling in love with her sub rather than the fact that her sub is a woman.And 2. Because for a comic that's constantly paying respect to the complexities of human emotions and physical desires alike, it seems a bit simplistic to just automatically attribute her situation to "I'm gay and I never knew". I know that happens [it happened to me] but it feels more like she's just open to both genders. You could say "bi" I see even that as an oversimplification. I only think this, again, because of the way the gay revelation is over and done so quickly, the amount of attention she gives to it feels like the line should be something more like "She's... a woman." or something. As it stands it just feels a bit like "I'm into a girl. Well that's it! I guess I'm just exclusively into women now!"She may well be. I just don't think the dialog supports it for that one second.

Sorry to vomit all over you like that. It just jumped out at me is all. You do whatever you want in the end my good sir. I'll be picking up my copy of volume one soon regardless.

I hate to sound like an ass....but a lot of people have no idea what bi is...or pan for that matter.... Some people have never been introduced to the LGBT community and simply have no idea these things exist. I can't even try to explain to you how many times I've had to teach my parents the difference between things like transexual, transgender, nonbinary, agender, bigender, etc etc, and they still don't get it. Since all of Ally's friends (before Lisa steps in) are straight (I think? I could be wrong hahah) and she's only had heterosexual relationships (Alan and that one sub guy), it's unlikely she'd have been introduced to this society...she may have seen guys walking around leashed by other guys or the same with girls, but.... anyways. So it's perfectly likely, since the only other relationship she's seriously been in was Alan and that was all about experimenting and sex, that she'd think she was strictly gay. Or that the term gay covers all non-hetero feelings of affection. Hell, she may even be a lesbian, since she's never fallen in love with a guy before.

As for the glossing over part, I remember when I realised I was bi. It wasn't much of a big deal: I had a dream about making out with my best friend, said "shit I'm bi" and tried to live with the fact that I had a huge crush on someone who'll never love me back. (And I know, I've tried asking her out. We're still best friends, luckily ^_^) I think there are bigger fish to fry for Ally right now, and that's okay....besides that, all her problems fit under the broad spectrum of her sexuality, seeing as they all relate back to Lisa.Anyways. Sorry for the super-long rant. Go back to enjoying the story please~

I dunno, given the vast openness about sexuality in general that these characters have, I don't think it should be that hard to work out about themselves.Ally has already crossed a threshold of inviting sexual activity with another woman without any fuss, so it doesn't seem to fit that she would gloss over the difference between gay and bi.And yes, I know "bi" can actually mean quite a few things.This comic is often about sitting down the undereducated and explaining sexuality to them (within its themes) and it just seems weird that it should go over this revelation so simplistically, and then have Alan turn around and say "Pretty much!"It's also possible she really just gay, but the point is I don't get that exact impression from her based on the events that preceded the revelation.

I know people can believe themselves straight for a long time and then wind up interested in the same sex and nothing else, but I've never known it be a matter of "I like this girl. Well shit, no more guys for me!"I always thought I was bi, because when I started maturing, I understood pretty quickly that I liked girls, but I assumed that because I was a girl that I must also like men. A few years on I stopped to realised that my feelings had never confirmed the latter. I assumed I was bi but later worked out that I'm just gay.

But that was simple for me because I'd never had a relationship with a man nor had I wanted to, but the same can't be said for Ally.

In the end it hardly matters, it's like two panels. And of course if we keep this conversation going, somebody will jump up our butts with imagined moral grievances.Ugh. Internet.

fair enough I don't know~ I'm not really the author~ but I think there's a difference between sex and love so she (Ally) probably thought nothing of sex and enjoyed that with anyone, but this is the first time she probably fell in love (from what I can tell by what I've read so far).

But like I said, I don't know~ and we wouldn't want someone getting butt-hurt over a silly discussion. Thanks for listening anyways ^_^

Also, I think I misinterpreted your question on my page. If you mean like tracing the image, then I prefer you didn't, but if you just mean the pose and composition, then yes, go ahead.I can hardly claim ownership of so simple a setup.

I love this comic and everything about it. But one thing...in this installment, Ally says she's "gay" but isn't she really bi? If so, why not say so? Bi erasure is a huge issue, and her suddenly being gay when all along she liked men too is problematic to me, and seems false. She can have fallen in love with a girl and be with a women for the rest of her life and still be bisexual, and you shouldn't exclude that from your story.

This is an interesting point of view. I don't know that much about it, but I have heard of bi-phobia and discrimination against bisexuality is an issue within the rainbow community.

I'm not the author, but I think that this case, Shiniez isn'y trying to ignore the fact that Ally is bisexual and just wants to use the phrase "like a rainbow unicorn" for comedic effect. English does seem to be Shiniez's second language, and that's another possible factor? Perhaps they see "gay" as an umbrella term for all sexualities other than straight?In the end, I don't think the author meant to say that Ally is lesbian, but just used the term for simplicity's sake.

I just noticed this but the incongruity between what Allan's shirt says, the way it's spelled, and the look on his face in the 18th frame, when Ally's got him by the collar shouting "I know!" is hilarious.

It's little touches like that which show the difference between a good artist and a great one. Nicely done Shiniez.